"Wherever there is a ruin, there is hope for treasure "


Posts tagged with 'rumination'

Assessing and encouraging enjoyable activities

25th October 2009

What we've seen in our work is that most people don't give themselves permission to live until they've been given a terminal diagnosis. Stephen Levine I came across an interesting research study recently: Pressman, S. D., K. A. Matthews, et al. (2009). "Association of Enjoyable Leisure Activities With Psychological and …

Recent research: six studies on positive psychology, goals, relationships, caregiving, mindfulness & nature

27th August 2009

Here are half a dozen studies that one could loosely put under the broad umbrella of positive psychology. Zorba the Greek said "Take what you want and pay for it, says God." and Niemiec et al's study, on the effects of achieving different kinds of goal, supports this statement (for …

Exeter conference day 1: resistant depression, thought suppression, self-help, & rumination from the horse's mouth

16th July 2009

So we're past yesterday's workshops and into the first day of the conference proper. Two and a half days now involving about 51 symposia, 5 panel debates, 8 open paper sessions, 2 poster sessions, and 17 keynote addresses. I really like this Exeter campus with it's trees and little paths. …

Exeter pre-conference workshop: Ed Watkins on CBT treatment for anxious & depressive rumination

15th July 2009

Exeter. I really like the way that the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) conferences rotate around a whole series of UK university towns. This is the 37th BABCP Annual Conference, and I guess I've been to a dozen or more of them over the years. They tend …

Walking in Glen Affric: heading home & different patterns of thought (fifth post)

24th April 2009

Heading home. Up quite early this morning. Eventually left the hostel about 9.00am. I drove up to Inverness before looping round to head down the A9. I've just stopped in Aviemore at the Mountain Cafe for old time's sake. I came here a year ago on the way back from …

Walking in Glen Affric: rumination, reflection & creativity (fourth post)

23rd April 2009

Last night I slept in a hostel rather than a tent. In fact the predicted gales and lashing rain never materialised. Some rain, some wind, but I woke in a comfortable bed feeling a little foolish, and very much recharged. Last night, good pub food, a shower, and a mattress …

Handouts & questionnaires for assessment of depression

6th April 2009

Depression assessment scales come in two basic forms - interviewer/clinician rated and sufferer/patient rated. As stated in the background information on the IDS/QIDS questionnaires (see below) "There are several accepted clinician rated and patient self report measures of depressive symptoms. The most commonly used clinician rated scales are the 17, …

The bus driver metaphor

4th January 2009

This blog post on coping with difficult thoughts and feelings is downloadable as both Word and PDF handouts. For further blog posts on "The bus driver metaphor", see "The bus driver is warm-blooded: integrating mindfulness & emotion" and also relevant are "'Naming emotions' is another useful self-regulation & mindfulness strategy" …

Recent research: OCD, writing & rumination, trauma & eating disorder, internet depression treatment, and sleep & PTSD

3rd July 2008

Simpson, H. B., E. B. Foa, et al. (2008). "A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Augmenting Pharmacotherapy in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder." Am J Psychiatry 165(5): 621-630. [Abstract/Full Text] Most OCD sufferers treated adequately with antidepressants will continue to have clinically significant symptoms. This study shows that adding exposure and …